Japanese phone maker Sony has announced that it will let its Facebook fans decide when it will launch its next Xperia smartphone, according to The Inquirer.

Sony explained the initiative, saying that its 13 million Facebook fans have the opportunity to bring forward its announcement of a new Xperia smartphone. Each click brings the announcement 20 seconds closer, and at the time of writing the launch is five days and 19 hours away.

"By giving fans the chance to be part of the next Xperia announcement, Sony Mobile is engaging with its consumers in a unique, imaginative and entertaining way," a Sony spokesperson said. Sony was unavailable to give us any more information about what we can expect from the upcoming announcement, but we're putting our money on a UK unveiling of the Sony Xperia GX handset, which at present is available only in Japan.

As to specifications, the Xperia GX comes with a 4.6in HD screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 13MP rear camera and support for 4G LTE connectivity.